If someone’s holding an event for a game, journalists will be there. It doesn’t matter what game; someone will show up. It’s easy to understand: open bar, free food, good people and (hopefully good) games.

Even if the event’s game doesn’t necessarily grab you, sometimes I can’t resist finding out how an event will play out. That’s why I headed out to a celebration of “Big Buck Hunter Pro” last week.

Yes, “Big Buck Hunter.” The infamous bar gun game.

The event was held at the appropriate, but undeniably creepy, Big Foot Lodge. You need not much look much farther than the décor to grasp why the Big Foot Lodge was picked.

I hooked up with some folks from Game Videos there. Considering we were there to check out “Big Buck Hunter Pro” and its newest incarnation, “Big Buck Hunter Safari,” we headed over to the machines already filled with credits. Would $60 be enough to satisfy our lust to blast pixelated woodland creatures?!

We were about to find out. I entered into ranked mode, which was a much more complicated affair than I’d anticipated. Ranked mode isn’t about entering some initials and moving on. Instead, it’s where you spend a few extra dollars to register for a “Big Buck Hunter Pro” key card that’s shipped to you. Bring the card to any compatible machine and it’ll automatically load your statistics to be monitored over the Internet.

Some 15 minutes later, I’d finally finished entering everything (you literally had to shoot every bit of personal information at the screen). Game Videos associate producer Jason Bertrand and I stepped up to the plate, and we entered a random forest. We both were failing quickly, not realizing shooting cows was the wrong idea.

Oops.

A few rounds later, I was stomping Bertrand to the ground, taking out one, two, three, four, five buffalo a round. The more points I scored, the prettier the women on the screen. It didn’t take long for one of the public relations guys to point out the women were much more technologically advanced in the new game, “Big Buck Hunter Safari.”

So, a few slices of event-provided pizza later, we went on a safari. I can confidently report the women, now made of animated full-motion-video, are much more interesting. One can only hope the RSS reader on my girlfriend’s computer fails to pick up this entry.

The event itself was sparsely attended. Only a handful of media (Update: I’ve been since told that number is around 13, if you’re curious) showed up, but considering the size of the bar — and that the bar wasn’t made private, as is typical of these events — the public relations handlers seemed to anticipate that. “Big Buck Hunter Pro” likely isn’t cove- story worthy, but that’s part of the reason I wanted to go. And I took some fun pictures for you.

Oh, and for those curious, the card showed up early this week. Now, I just need to find a San Francisco bar with a copy of “Big Buck Hunter Pro.” Suggestions?